A Pair of Summer Tanagers and the Distant Call of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Early evening on the back deck, the weather was warm and sunny, but pleasant in the shade of the oaks. Chimney Swifts flew overhead, and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds made steady, zipping trips to the feeder hanging from the deck rail. The male comes much more often, and almost always hovers while sipping nectar, buzzing with energy, always watchful, always on guard. Sometimes he relaxes enough to perch on the crook above the feeder for a few seconds. The female comes less often, and seems less bold, more skittish, but also, paradoxically, more calm when she does decide to stay. She perches, wings still and quiet, on the feeder to sip.
The pik-a-tuk calls of Summer Tanagers traveled through trees on the edge of the yard – and then a pair flew together into the large pine that stands at the southeast corner of the yard, pausing there in full, beautiful view. They did not stay long, but long enough to see the rich rose-red of the male, and the dull-yellow and olive of the female. The male held nesting material in his bill.
From very far away, came the full, percussive call of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, the cuk-cuk-cuk-cawwp-cawp-cawp call itself like a fading echo. This is the only time so far this season that I’ve heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s call. But I am hopeful still that maybe one will return to our woods for the summer.